Diseazd

Steve....Neat idea.....anxious to hear how it works. I always wanted to rig up a resovoir above an old radiator to put ice in, so when the ice slowly melted, it would run down through the radiator and then out the bottom (overboard) with a fan behind it to blow cool air (for my boat when we slept on it). It would work for campers also. Sorry 'bout the Commadores baseball.....so close to a repeat. See you in Memphis!

Valve seats shouldn't be that expensive to replace. The seats are $60.00 ($5.00 each) and my machine shop charges $15.00 each (labor to replace). A couple hundred bucks for updating an engine to today's standards is worth the extra money. If your guy wants $75.00 each, I'd find another machine shop. But, that still doesn't answer the noise question. Did they reuse the old rockers? If so, did they reinstall the rockers and lash pads in the order they came out? If not, that could contribute to some of the noise. Check to make sure on TDC compression stroke that your cam sprocket timing mark is dead on ( I'm sure you've already done this). 2nd, back off your ignition timing a little (while it's running).....too much advance seems to make a valve train a little noisy.......see if you can hear it quiet down a little on retarding. I never have found that setting valve clearances hot or cold makes much difference in noise level, but some here have, so give that a try. Finally, Datsun engines are inherently a little noisy, especially when you are listening for every little possible demon. If everything checks out, and you have double checked everything (including oil pressure), run the thing as Is. It certainly sounds like it's running good......maybe all the old parts will break in over time and she'll quiet down. It certainly is a beautiful engine.....you've done a hell of a nice job in putting her together.

What did he do to repair number 4? Did he install a new valve seat? You know that the original bronze valve seats won't last with today's unleaded gas. It needs some steel seats, but that shouldn't cause the noise you're hearing.

Exactly......Another good reason to only use a machine shop that is familiar with the early Datsun heads.

Quote.....All new valves? If you re-adjust the Valve clearances when Hot, and it doesn't quiet down check the end of the Valve stems. Some machinist's will regrind them to get the installed height correct after replacing valve seats or over sized valves. On my old engine, the Machinist ( not mine ) had ground the Valve tips with what looked to be a Bench grinder. The tips were not even remotely close to being flat. Lash pads would tilt and mess up the measurement. Never a good idea to grind the valve stem tips to adjust valve stem height on the L series engines. The early (cupped) lash pads can make contact with the valve retainers and destroy them. The later lash pads are probably ok, because they are flat across the bottom and don't "hang over" the valve stem tip.

Black Dragon has them listed in the catalog. Part number 79-021 $1.95 each

hmmmm....Twin parking meters....bet Blue can tune 'em up!

Yep.....I thought it was in line with where they should be. Hard to say from seeing a car in a picture or in person. They said the paint was a little lacking......these cars are going to new heights, but only the pristine examples, and they still don't bring what's invested to get them to that stage......but are closer. IMO